Reviews by swizzlenuts:

The nose on the beer has a sweet malt with hints of caramels. The beer pours a very dark red with a off white/tan head with pretty good retention. The beer looks pretty good and like an extreme red ale. The beer has a really good caramel malt with a nice hop bite at the end. This is pretty much like a buffed up Rogue American Ale. This has a really good balance from the sweet usual red taste, bitter, and hop flavour. The beer is thick and creamy, this is about perfect. The beer is really drinkable.

I'd like the beer to be a bit more aromatic with hops, but other than that, it's solid. The beer is exactly what you'd expect.

More User Reviews:

Iam not a big fan of the 7oz bottles of the XS series but I have wanted to try this beer for awhile,so I bought one today.Poured a deep murky amber with a tight formed one finger off white head that held pretty well.Aromas are a mixture of the signature deeply piney and citric Rogue hop character,and caramel malt with a touch of slighter roast.The biggest thing I noticed about this beer on the palate was the lack of alcohol presence for a beer that packs so much of it,the resiny hops although not dominant played a big role intermingling with caramel malt and some biscuit.A real nice beer,not worth what I paid for the small bottle,but still quite good.

Im not exactly sure when this is from. I want to say either 2006 or 2007. There is no best by or born on date. The ABV says 8.25, not 9. Recipe as follows:Crystal 40, Chocolate, Munich and Two Row Pale Malts; CBitterig palisade and aroma crystal, free range coastal water and top fermenting pacman yeast.

Pours a deep mahogany red. No head momentarily, but bubbling up to a solid finger with ample lacing. I cant imagine a red looking any better. Its still got some staying power.

Carmel malty deliciousness. Slight aroma hops, but no pine or citrus.

Boozy and quite bitter. Not bitter in a bad way per se, but almost like an english hop character. I need it to warm a little to get more malt. Im surprised at the level of bitterness. Weird, but as I dont drink Red Ale's often, I doubt this is to style, but Im digging it.

Sits well. Definitely needs to warm over non-imperial counterparts. While the bitterness makes it unbalanced, I think couples with the malty character it goes for a unique representation of the style.

In a tulip glass this beer was a dark red/brown color with a rim of tan head. Sweet malt aroma, as well as a bit of flowery odor. Mostly sweet malt taste, some cherry, and a little bit of piney hops. Dry mouthfeel. Not bad, but I was expecting more. Maybe try again.

.75L ceramic flip top bottle with no freshness date. I persoanlly don't like these bottles, they make for sloppy pouring due to the weight and not knowing where the liquid is at any given time. The higher pricing doesn't sweeten the reasoning behind the use either. Thankfully this is not beerbottleadvocate.com so I can move on.

Big bubbly dense off white frothing drops thick patch curtain of lacing on the glass. Garnet meets amber for the color, good clarity as well. Wild flower hop aroma, soft yet earthy with a tea-like backend. Strawberry and plum fruitiness from the alcohol couple with the nougat and toasted maltiness in the nose. Alcohol, hop flavor and a roasted / toasted graininess battle for domination though all seem to call a truce and meld well together. Alcohol is warming with ripe fruit and a faint solvent breath. Hop flavor comes in thick yet soft with an semi-oily herbal flavor but then the bitterness kicks in with more of a grapefruit peel taste. The malt is just as toasted as it is roasted with faint coffee and chocolate flavors as well as some sweet cake batter and fresh toasted bread within. Finishes bitter sweet with a lingering alcohol.

Tasty and certainly with in that "Imperial" realm that American brewers have created. Definitely worth a try.

Poured from a 7 oz nip. The beer pours a dark red color with a white head. The aroma is heavy on the toffee and brown sugar with some alcohol mixed in. The flavor is full of alcohol and toffee malt with some earthy hops. There is also a little bit of sweet brown sugar in the flavor. Medium to thick mouthfeel and low carbonation. Decent, but not worth the high price you have to pay for it.

Pouring a deep amber with red tinges, Imperial Red has an intensely sweet nose, malty sugars (maple syrup, apricot, orange) intermingling with grapefruit-like, rosewater-laden hops. So sugary is the nose that I felt as if i were sniffing liquid candy, or what would happen if Jolly Rancher outsourced their flavors division to a champagne factory.

On the tongue the ale turns out to be far hoppier that the nose belied, the grapefruit/pine bitterness coming in at medium to medium-heavy strength (58 IBU). Beneath that, however, is a sublime layer of malts containing an incredibly complex and nuanced variety of sugars. Maple syrup is here, but also port wine and cognac flavors, strong hints of oak, vanilla, spiced orange liqueur, and lychee nut. The only detraction is that the high alcohol content (8.25% ABV) does result in a slight alcohol twang. The sugars last well into the aftertaste, then peel back to let the hops shine one final time, and just at the end is a port-like swirl. Mouthfeel is medium.

Overall, this is an excellent ale. It might be argued that the hops could be toned down slightly to better let the malts shine through, but I don't personally have any problems with the ratios. The beer is also slightly more expensive than usual (probably because of the fancy ceramic bottle), but it's well worth the cost.

7oz bottle, a souvenir from a visit to the Pearl District pub in Portland a few months ago.

This beer pours a hazy, murky rust-tinted dark golden brown hue, with one finger of tight foamy beige head, which leaves a few amoebic specks of lace as it fades away. It smells of caramel cream malt, citrus and pine hops, some mustiness, and a slight booze edge. The taste is hoppy up front, with muddled aged bitter citrus peel and pine needle essences, over top of a decent bready, caramel malt, with touches of fortified wine and unprocessed dark fruit. The carbonation is on the soft side, the body medium weight, and approaching smoothness. It finishes fairly clean, the emphasis on the lingering tangy, resinous hops.

A decent strong red ale, the big booze quite well integrated, and enjoyably hoppy, for when that itch arises.

Pours a clear dark deep mahogony with a huge tan foamy head. The head lasts forever and leaves great lacing. The smell is pungent with bread yeast,sweet malt, and some carmel. The taste is sharp with bitter and citrus hops,carmel,sweet malt,and alcohol. The taste is dominated by the bitter hops and alcohol and overpowers the sweet malt and carmel flavors. It's OK,but not Rogues best. The m/f is medium with the flavors not mixing all that great. This is only an average beer and I'm alittle disapointed in Rogue.

An expensive bottle, thanks Boutip. An amber with good bitterness, balanced malt and some roast. Off white head lots of lace,even barleywinish. A tad chocolate malt, Palisade and Aroma Crystal hops, Pacman Yeast. A winner for people moving up the crafty brew food chain.